President Obama announced in
August, almost three months after the IRS acknowledged targeting Tea Party
groups, that he would nominate Koskinen, a former Freddie Mac executive, to
take over the troubled agency.

In a statement, President Obama
thanked the Senate for confirming Koskinen, whom he said has always operated
with "absolute integrity," even when leading other institutions through
"challenging times."

"His strong leadership and
unquestioned expertise make him the right person to lead the IRS," he
said. The president also thanked the current interim IRS chief, Danny Werfel,
who had already told lawmakers he would depart by the end of the year.

In a nomination hearing last week,
Koskinen said that one of his central goals would be to restore both taxpayer
trust in the tax agency and the morale of employees saddled by scandal.

“In every area of the IRS,
taxpayers need to be confident they will be treated fairly, no matter what
their background or affiliations,” Koskinen said. “Public trust is the IRS's
most important and valuable asset.”

The 74-year-old also complimented
the job the agency’s done to prepare for its role in administering Obama’s
healthcare reform law.

Senators from both sides of the
aisle have said that Koskinen, who has taken on other tough government
assignments over recent decades, is more than qualified to take over the
commissioner slot.

But many Republicans resisted the
push from Democrats to confirm him before the holiday break.

With Werfel on the way out,
administration officials have openly worried that, without Senate action, the
IRS could be left without a confirmed commissioner when the tax-filing season
starts early next year. The IRS announced this week that the filing season
would open Jan. 31 — 10 days later than planned.

With that in mind, Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and other top Democrats argued it was
crucial to confirm Koskinen before the Senate broke for the year.

“This is a critical time to have
someone with Mr. Koskinen’s expertise in charge of the IRS,” Baucus said in a
statement on Friday.

“We need a confirmed commissioner
to begin winning back the public’s trust and manage the ongoing implementation
of the Affordable Care Act.I am
confident he is up to the task.”

But top Republicans insisted over
and over on Thursday that none of the nominees that Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was holding out for needed to be handled before the end of
this year.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that was especially true
for an agency that has shrouded itself in controversy for most of 2013.

“No,” Cornyn, the top Republican
on the Finance Committee, said Thursday. “Especially when they’re under
investigation.”

Hatch and other GOP members of the
panel have added that they believe a Koskinen vote should have waited until
after the committee releases its bipartisan investigation into the IRS
targeting.

That investigation is now expected
to wrap up early next year, and Koskinen has vowed to help the senators see it
to completion.

Republicans have also blasted new
draft federal rules on how much political activity tax-exempt groups can engage
in, though Koskinen has cautioned that he had no role in crafting the
regulations.

Top IRS officials admitted in May
that they had inappropriately singled out Tea Party groups, setting off a
firestorm that dominated Washington.

The White House and top
congressional Democrats quickly said that top agency officials would need to be
held accountable, with several either losing their job or heading to
retirement.

But Democrats have also insisted
that, after more than half a year of investigation, there is no evidence that
anyone outside the IRS played any role in the targeting, or that there was
political motivation behind it.

Democrats have also criticized the
inspector general who outlined the targeting.

But McConnell and other
Republicans have suggested that Democrats are trying to sweep the controversy
under the rug. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has
sharply criticized the FBI’s investigation into the matter in recent weeks.

The Senate also voted 56-36 Friday
to end debate on the nomination of Brian Davis to be U.S. district judge for the
District of Florida. His nomination has been pending for nearly two years.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

John A. Koskinen
is the commissioner nominee for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), and a director at the AES Corporation.

Note: Charles O. Rossotti
was the commissioner for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), is the chairman for the AES Corporation, a director at Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and a director at Booz
Allen Hamilton.

Henry A. Kissinger is a director at the
Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a lifetime trustee at
the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).

Belizean_Grove
is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.

Charles O. Rossotti
is a director at Booz Allen Hamilton,
the chairman for the AES Corporation,
a director at Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and was the commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

John A. Koskinen
is a director at the AES Corporation,
and the commissioner nominee for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).

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Sam on Bob Harden Show

Who Is Aristotle the Hun

"Aristotle the Hun" was the name given to me more than 30 years ago when a friend noticed that in spite of my intellect I was still an Iowa farm boy.

Rev. Sam Sewell, is Director of Best Self USA, a Pastoral Psychotherapist, serves on the faculty of Naples Community Hospital as an instructor for Clinical Pastoral Education, President of the Theological Center in Naples, a member of Mensa where he serves as Gifted Youth Coordinator, a U.S. Navy Veteran, and a Member of the Association For Intelligence Officers. He is a frequent commentator on mental health and religious issues.His award winning research on family issues is published in several languages. Member of Sigma Delta Chi Honor Society

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Quotation Gallery

"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men."- St. Augustine

"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous, and then dismissed as trivial, until finally it becomes what everybody knows." -

William James

"This is the real task before us: to reassert our commitment as a nation to a law higher than our own, to renew our spiritual strength. Only by building a wall of such spiritual resolve can we, as a free people, hope to protect our own heritage and make it someday the birthright of all men." --Ronald Reagan

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."-- Edward Abbey

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."John Stuart Mill

"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." ~~~George Washington

"I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University." William F. Buckley, Jr.

"Conservatives are enemies of the government. Liberals are enemies of the nation because they are not enemies of the government."Aristotle the Hun

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"Albert Einstein

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain." ANON

"That government is best which governs least."Thomas Paine

“A nation that substitutes emotion and empathy for rational thought will eventually digress into the Dark Ages,”Congressman Steve King (R-IA),

INTEGRITY: The highest courage is to dare to be ourself in the face of adversity. Choosing ethics over convenience and truth over popularity means there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

They may be more likely to go to Heaven for good intentions yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.~ C. S. Lewis

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." ANON

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The government is conspiring against the citizens. The citizens have pitchforks, torches, tea bags, tea parties, Grand Juries and the Constitution. The government doesn't stand a chance!

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The famous Chapter 16 from "I Fired My Doctors" thathas become a "best seller" as a separate publication.

"The stress management chapter alone is worth the price of the book.”
Selwyn Mills, PhD